ADNAN AS METAPHOR
Editor,
Our man on the spot —
Adnan Farham Abdul Latif apparently accepted psychiatric medications casually left a potentially Guantanamo assisted suicide which rescued prison authorities of responsibility.
Just as Athenian justice required Socrates take the hemlock himself so that the body politic could keep his hands clean (other than those grating mortar and pestle in lethal preparation) but Socrates had been a pain in the ass to the Athenian body politic and Adnan though ordered freed several time by Generals, panels and judges (he said he came to Afghanistan to seek services of a medical charity before the war) not realizing he would end up as one of the one of the first captured to become a tenured citizen of Guantanamo Bay.
As Socrates ever never yielded to the political persuasion of dutiful submissive citizenship – so Adnan never its said submitted to the terms of his Guantanamo imprisonment even in his last days when they put him into a cell echoing from generator anchored to the intervening wall. A cell he has said to have dreaded, instead it’s said he would determine his incarcerated fate even unto the gates of hell. “He would not let them (the guards) set the terms of his imprisonment” quoted from New York Times. He regularly was placed in a restraining chair and forced fed when attempting hunger strikes.
Socrates said the same thing all those years ago; people don’t like it when you think for yourself. Bruce Anderson says that’s why he honored Alexander Cockburn so much, he was among the few who did. Socrates said all could as well if they sought the light he had found inside himself. Instead of seeing only that which can be bought or sold for in Adnan case told.
It must be said here that one guard looking over these unclassified notes said “what a huge pile of bullshit – Adnam was no fucking Socrates just a raghead determined to take the little space we gave him and make it into a mile of official ‘better look into this one’ before some crinkle head in the ACLU makes a federal case out of it.
But don’t worry about it, Qaeda Brotherhood has no truck with autopsies so lets freeze his ass as a Yemeni ice pie and send him home’ (which according to the Times November 29, 2012 they did.)
Nelson Mandela says in his book, Conversations with Myself, “ …and you found, you know, the resistance, the ability of the human spirit to resist injustice right inside prison… there were many men…who would prefer punishment and even assault rather than give in. “
Now about Bradley Manning.
But that’s not what the boys at Quantico did to that little piss-ant stoolie, Bradley Manning. They kept the light on the little motherfucker even when he was taking a shit – and he had to jump up and stand at attention
“Tench-hut,” when he needed something to wipe his ass with. (Democracy Now December 3, 2012)
If the little fuck face turned his head away from the light even when asleep, they said ‘wake up you little fuck, and turn over.’
And that came from the top where they could care less about that Hippocratic Oath thing – let the boy say something useful. (Forget what the commissioned MDs say, they work for us) Then he can squirm one eye around and see the light of day reflexed off a petty offices used Suburban parked out by the main gate – the car of choice shipped to San Salvador for the unfairly termed “death squads” (shipped directly from Michigan with tinted windows and escape proof doors).
(That reported that the auto industries child proof campaign for door locks took off.)
Radioactive Promises —
On the other hand hemlocks modern offspring — like birds from evolving from dinosaurs — come with radioactive promise.
That’s what they dug up Yasser Arafat to find if the Israelis had sent him a get well snack (and wasn’t dates and almonds) when he was in that French hospital.
It’s also said that if you get on the wrong side Putin (even if you have done a stint in KGB before becoming an independent contractor) don’t drink tea with friends of his, unless you bring your own sugar. And if you are a journalist they won’t waste something the Iranians want so badly on a pencil pusher, just an ounce of lead (a bullet).
Bloomberg Knows —
But Mayor Bloomberg proved to the world he was no one trip pony when he raised the anti on the “Occupy” movement and proved it could not stand up to having its gourmet food kitchen removed, along with heating stoves for the freezing cold nights and having its library shut down. So his decision to let the nursing homes in the Rockaway’s ride out Super Storm Sandy and give the first responders practice in rescuing frail and ancient people with something in the bank for the next catastrophe which the mayor as a spokesman’s for the threat of Global Warming knows is coming for sure. “Global Carbon Project researchers say that if emissions continued to grow so rapidly that the goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees is probably unattainable.) (NY Times 12/3/12).
The city can’t afford to build seawalls like the Dutch around its thousands of miles of exposure and maybe this will wake the Feds up to ‘parting with more than chump change’.
The mayor is suppose to have said — off the record — that maybe this will show Hillary that being Mayor of the Big Apple is tens times the trick of a land locked presidency) she should run for bleeping mayor if she wants to show the world that she has the balls to be where the rubber meets the road. (Delete that last he said) and anyway Bloomberg’s ass could probably be the only one to find the finances for such a project.
Words of Wisdom: “Obama proved himself to be imperial to the core… I do not hate the person because he has the potential to change…” — Cornell West
Sam Edwards
Tahoe City
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COUP? WHAT COUP?
Editor,
When did the coup take place?
When did the coup happen here, and how did we miss it? I always imagined military coups to occur when jack-booted generals marched into the town square in front of columns of heavily armed soldiers. Pinochet, Mussolini, Franco come to mind – we’ve all seen the pictures. But here in the United States, nobody even has a clue as to when the Pentagon, and its secret policing, “anti-terrorist” organizations took control of the U.S. government and its people.
Recently, the newspapers indicated that the US/NATO was sending scud missiles to Turkey and U.S. soldiers would be stationed there to fire them at Syria. No declaration of war, no ok from Congress, not a word from the President. If the Pentagon wants to go to war against Syria, it simply does so. We are already fighting other wars throughout the Middle East – not just in Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya, Bahrain and (add the Muslim nation of your choice), but in dozens of other countries, as well.
Last week, we sent groups of “anti-terrorist” mercenaries to 35 countries in Africa. Most Americans can’t even name 25 countries on that continent, but the Pentagon is making sure that every African nation is on board for at least one U.S. base. That way, we can justify invading any country we want in case something happens to one of our “heroes” protecting Africa.
The U.S. government has secret prisons for “renditions” (torture is what the rest of the world calls it); secret assassination squads (“Seals” in the euphemistic jargon for such mercenaries); CIA “destabilization” officers throughout the world: the list of assassins go on an on. This “secret” world of U.S. terror exists side-by-side with the 1000 identified U.S. military bases throughout the globe.
The ascendancy of an all-powerful, unrestrained military system, unaccountable to the Congress, the courts, or the public, was one of the subtlest coups anywhere in the history of the world. Certainly, the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan consolidated the authority that the Pentagon held over the American people, but nobody ever recognized that during those regimes there was a formal abdication of power to the military-corporate state by the civilian government.
After World War II, with the development of the nuclear weapons industry, there was a recognition that the complexity of modern warfare was beyond the knowledge and capacity of the American people to control. Reinforced by the Pentagon’s propaganda efforts during the Cold War, and the establishment of a secret Central Intelligence Agency (under the auspices of numerous named and unnamed front groups), the Congress and executive governments gradually gave more and more power to these agencies. With the advent of “terrorists” as the new shibboleth, and “Homeland Security” as the front group, the Pentagon and its secret police are so protected that it is a crime to even talk publicly about what these monsters are doing to those we characterize as “terrorists” throughout the world. Whistleblowers are at risk of being tortured and assassinated as quickly and deftly as are our “enemies.”
And now there is not even a pretext at controlling this run-away military/industrial complex. Even if President Obama, or his predecessors, had the courage or integrity to try to control the Pentagon and its cohorts, they could not do so. Instead, we witness one clown after another, sitting in the White House, rubber-stamping outrageously expensive military budgets, and endorsing one unpopular war after another, with no oversight by any civilian authority. The creation of one unnecessary program after another is the standard for Pentagon spending. That Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and General Adolph Betray-us would be “in bed” with each other, is not a caricature of their relationship, but rather, constitutes the normal state of affairs. Hillary will undoubtedly be the next President of the United States, since she represents everything that the Pentagon wants in a leader: total dishonesty, coupled with unrestrained violence against those who would oppose U.S. world domination.
The shibboleth of “terrorism” is merely the Pentagon’s latest excuse for permanent war, and endless drone attacks, not only on foreign populations, but also for the domestic police surveillance state, at home. The silent military coup that has taken place in this country is beyond the reach of our elected officials. Whatever hope we ever had for regaining control over the Pentagon was lost with the Citizens United decision issued by the puppets on the U.S. Supreme Court, and we, like the rest of the world, are left with no government independent enough to fight back. History demonstrates that military empires burn themselves out eventually, but in the meantime, we are facing a long, difficult period of oppression and violence.
Luke Hiken, an attorney who has engaged in the practice of criminal, military, immigration, and appellate law.
Berkeley
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LIGHTING UP D-MOD
Editor,
I came to this jail and saw in the beloved Anderson Valley newspaper where the inmates of D-Mod complain constantly. Well I must say that these complaints look good, but in all actuality their complaints are suited from their own actions. They have no television because an inmate in D-mod tried to light a cigarette off of the plug. They have no books because of a disciplinary downfall from inmates constantly smuggling tobacco and drugs into the jail. They have to come out one cell at a time for day room because of constant fighting because of ethnic differences or other reasons. I believe A-mod has a rougher time because we have to take constant ridicule from work side, B-mod, C-Mod and D-mod as well as some staff. We are punished whenever any other mod fights. Sometimes they have no hot water to shower or cook soups. But hey, we live. We go on and we don't complain much. In other things, not all inmates in A-mod are sex offenders. We have inmates who are gay, crazy and snitches. So the whole mod is different in charges. I hope all this information helps shine a light on D-mod.
Your friend,
Ninja Morris
PS. Call the jail and ask them to turn the heat up.
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HE AIN’T HEAVY
Editor,
I try to make it a point to keep this old misery out of my thoughts. But come every holiday, especially on my mother's birthday, this misery has been there to distort the true meaning of family.
This misery has a name. It is Eugene Allen Lincoln Jr., aka, Bear Lincoln. He makes himself to appear to be the innocent bystander or even a scapegoat, if you will.
If you knew him like I do, you would realize it is all just a big hoax! He has the type of personality that thrives on the misfortune of others. His pleasure doubles when he has the satisfaction of knowing that he was the reason for it. And it seems to triple when family members are involved, myself included. Bear Lincoln's ways have been misleading many people for too long. I just hope that his true self will be revealed before someone gets hurt — April 14, 1995 for example. I know all this because he's my brother.
Bare the truth, you shouldn't have freed the Bear.
Eric Lincoln
Covelo
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THE GREATEST
Editor,
I don't know if I love the Diaries or if I don't. But I want to meet Darren Delmore's mom. Thanks for the paper. The greatest wellspring of sarcasm and cynicism ever.
Michael Osage
Mendocino County Jail, Ukiah
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NO SURPRISE
Dear Editor:
Hope you and yours had a pleasant holiday season. I have a sidebar in regard to the letter from Bart Boyer about Smedley Butler. Butler was a life long Quaker and his change about war after his service was reflective of his Quaker beliefs. Also his father was a congressman and was chair of the subcommittee that controlled the budget of the Marine Corps. I can tell you coming from 350 years of Quakers there is very little about Quakers that surprises me.
Best,
Jim Updegraff
Sacramento
PS. Just read the letter from the lady who wants to start a public bank. As a retired Deputy Superintendent of Banks, in reading her letter I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Good example of how a little knowledge can be dangerous. Just for starters the initial capital has to be cash, not buildings or real estate or pension funds or mortgages. There are a number of other issues she glossed over. Normally, I would write a Letter to the Editor but in this case I wouldn't want to embarrass someone who means well. I share her opinion about the Wall Street Banks. She really should read the sections of the California Financial Code that applies to Banks as well as the Rules and Regulations of the State of California Department of Financial Institutions as they pertain to starting a bank. I do have a problem if I or no one else responds; some well meaning folks could waste their time on a pipe dream.
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THE BEST
Editor,
Eric Bergeson's review of Les Miz is the best damn review I’ve ever read! Maybe the best damn movie review ever! A review worthy of a review. If I had any polysyllabic propensities, I would do so. Suffice to say, I’ll never entertain seeing another flick without first seeing Bergeson’s review.
Jeff Abbas
Dorchester, Iowa
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INSANE BY DRUGS
Editor:
Re: AVA (January 3, 2013 issue) opinion on “Out There In The Woods” contains a truly cretinous statement: “Aaron Bassler was a young Fort Bragg man driven murderously insane by drugs.”
The AVA has a responsibility for truth, not some redneck version of mental illness. Aaron's father attempted many times to get help for his son; all pleas fell on deaf ears, including that of DA David Eyster, who claimed “substance abuse is self imposed mental illness.”
So much for journalistic integrity, AVA. If this paper has solid evidence Aaron was “insane by drugs,” substantiate your statement. Stop playing the ignorance card by perpetuating the myths of mental illness.
Elizabeth Ryan
Fort Bragg
Ed reply: You're correct in saying that Bassler had been in deteriorating mental health for many years, but it's clear to us that much of his behavior seemed inspired by methamphetamine — the paranoia about Chinese armies and his odd attack on the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, for instance. In between episodes of wild behavior, Bassler was incarcerated during which his jailers noted zero indications of mental illness, and I trust their judgment a lot more than I do, say, the crackpots dominant on Mendo List Serve who, against all the evidence, are still whining about Laura's Law, which requires at least minimal cooperation from the patient. Bassler was an isolate and non- cooperative. Is it unreasonable to conclude that away from drugs, especially crank, he functioned normally but out of jail with access to drugs he didn't function normally? Every day someone is arrested in Mendocino County for flipping out on tweek; as former Sheriff Tony Craver used to say, “We don't arrest these people. We rescue them.” Used to be a person with a mental illness, whether or not induced by drug or drink, was placed in the therapeutic security of a state hospital. Anymore, there is no help available other than brief periods of incarceration in county jails. Finally, the people who continue to insist that Bassler could have been taken alive, and that it's somehow the fault of Mendocino County that he wasn't, ignore the awful fact that he murdered two people in cold blood. From letters like yours you'd think Bassler was the victim.
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THE 100TH MONKEY
Editor,
Is anyone enjoying the drama in politics, the political entertainment where the unsatisfactory resolution of each conflict produces another drama to focus our attention? This drama is not of my making nor yours. Yes, we are impacted by the script that plays out but we have no meaningful say. The point of this piece is not that life is hard, rather to show a path to a better future. I am convinced the existent paradigm, the drama we all live within cannot take us there. On the surface we experience this drama as negotiations in Washington between the interests of the 1% and the 99% with each side deemed equal litigants. More broadly this paradigm is always one promoting the power of the few over the many and manifests violence and aggression and the merciless exploitation of people and the planet.
This drama has many devices to bind us to it with labels like democracy, capitalism and phrases like participatory democracy and the constitution. These things will be forever corrupted by the existent paradigm and the drama that plays out within it. A better future cannot evolve from that frame. Many smart people comment in newspapers and on TV milling around within this construct explaining the impediments to a better future. These impediments are designed into the existent paradigm, we have no control here, we must step back out of this paradigm to allow us vistas of other paradigms that can produce a better future, one we control.
This step back matters and provides the transcendent realization that there are many other paths we can empower to create a better future. These paths are disallowed within the existent construct. This is not pollyanna, mere smoke. If I step back and consider a better way to a better future and you join me and bring a friend we will reach that 100th monkey threshold beyond which this shift is unstopable. The first step is not the end-game but 'is' that necessary first step. I need you to come with me in your mind and soul. There is a hunger for this and it will be powerful because the 100th monkey is waiting…
Don Scotten
Sprague River
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TEACHERS WITH GUNS
Letter to the Editor,
Hooray for the John Birch Society and the National Rifle Association (NRA) for demanding that our school teachers be armed to protect our children by using their US Constitutional gun rights and armed guards. If the teachers had been routinely armed in the past decades, it’s obvious that the killings and the casualties would have been reduced by at least 90%. However, our leaders and the police wouldn’t allow our teachers to be armed and by doing so they have directly violated our Constitution that they have sworn to uphold and facilitated the horrible death and destruction. They should be investigated and prosecuted for such acts against our children. We should support the John Birch Society and the NRA in their efforts to arm our teachers and protect our children, and if the teachers bring their own guns, it will cost nothing.
Sincerely,
Ed Nemecheck
Landers
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WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
Editor,
Who is the California Judicial Council? Very few people have heard of them. They are a group of lawyers and judges who are in reality the Judges Union, lead by the Chief Justice of California. These people are responsible for ensuring consistent independent, impartial justice. But like that old saying, they are the fox watching over the henhouse.
Let’s see what this all lawyer non-competitive council has done. A number of years back we had justice courts throughout the County. First thing was to pass something that judges had to be lawyers. Then they quit the Justice Courts and made everyone travel to Fort Bragg, Willits or Ukiah. Then recently they closed Willits and were on their way to closing Fort Bragg until there was an uprising against that. Then we made judges Superior Court judges which made all of their pay go through the roof. Then the judges decided that they must have a more palatial building. So we have to build a new judicial castle. But they also promised it would not be paid by taxpayers. It would be paid by fines.
So what does our purveyors of justice, the Judicial Council, do? They made up a parcel of fees to add to all fines and changed the name to “bail” (too confuse everyone more). For example, the fine for a first time seatbelt violation is $20. By the time all these fees are added to it, the total cost of the fine (they call it “bail”) is $208. All fines have been pushed up by eight to ten times their legal amounts.
We don’t see judges on our ballots anymore. I presume the Council was also responsible for this. The reasoning is that if a judge does not have someone running against them, why put them on the ballot? Why wouldn’t a lawyer not run for a job that pays them around a quarter of a million dollars? It would be hard to find any lawyer who makes close to that. The reason is that it’s hard to beat an incumbent judge, and if an opponent loses, as they are likely to do, their name is mud.
You would think a judge would always be impartial in a courtroom. Wrong! In order to win an election, one has to bring up some disparaging things and judges are human like the rest of us — they don’t forget. This is another case of no competition (that holy word) causing another government monopoly.
Next letter: What we have to do to bring back a sensible, economical judicial system.
Emil Rossi
Boonville
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BIRTHDAY WISHES— WHEEEE!
Dear LOUISE!
Have a wonderful birthday!
And remember, I’m younger than you.
Love,
THELMA
Boonville
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CAR THEFT INC.
Editor,
In brief. Buy a towing company with a fenced storage yard. Comply with 32 pages of California Highway Patrol regulations. Now you are in business to steal. You can rack up storage fees for towed vehicles by providing no written instructions for the procedure to retrieve the towed vehicle. The California Highway Patrol also fails to provide any procedural instructions. Then you charge storage fees for every day the person seeking the return of the vehicle is sent on a bureaucratic goose chase, tracking down incomplete, wrong or contradictory instructions. At varying rates from $45/day to a high of $70/day, the storage racket is a lucrative one in itself, as the only service provided is parking in a fenced junkyard. For that much money, the besieged vehicle owner can buy a motel room and house a homeless family and car if they have one, or for the higher $70/day amount, fancy digs which include FREE PARKING. Or more economically, for under $100/month, one can rent a parking space for a motor home in a nightly locked storage yard.
Before trying to find a legal basis for these outrageous fees, remember that the vehicle was taken unlawfully, that the registered owner was not notified by any agency that his truck had been impounded. After six days of trying to find the whereabouts of the towed truck, because the California Highway Patrol would not tell me without first giving them the license plate number and the vehicle identification number (vin), numbers I didn't think of memorizing, I discovered that the truck was at Ukiah Auto Dismantlers. There I was instructed that I needed to obtain a written authorization from the registered owner. As the registered owner was in jail for something he did not do under a guilty until proven innocent parole “violation” — all charges were subsequently dismissed — I had to wait until a weekly visitation to obtain the written authorization. When I presented that paper, I was told that it had to be stamped by a notary public. Two more days lost as notaries are expensive. I had to find an affordable mobile notary who had to make a special appointment at the jail which was in the late afternoon. Then the CHP had to accept that document, I had been told, before I took it to the Auto Dismantlers. Every day of delay cost $45 storage fees, $50 for the notary, gas money and lunch money.
At almost 75 years old, I live on a small disability plus a little extra. By Christmas, thanks to this runaround, my credit union account was zero, my savings used. The owner of the truck had $300 of savings to retrieve the truck. By now over $450 was “owed.” I , who usually do not get sick, was sick from stress and a lyme disease attack, and angrier than I had probably been in 20 years.
If you amble over to the Law Library at the Ukiah Courthouse to check Lexis Nexis to search for a legal basis for these outrageous charges, you will find NOTHING. Look in the Deerings California Code. NADA. Another day of searching. Dan, the morning law librarian who can help find citations, found a 2013 Addendum to the Deerings California Code 22651.07, which reads that rates for public tows and storage are to be decided by agreement between the law enforcement agency requesting the tow and the towing company. When I asked CHP officer Soria and then the acting commander Moffett, he told me that the CHP had no such rate agreement. I then requested and received a few days later 32 pages of the CHP contractual agreements with their listed towing companies. Nowhere are any rates mentioned. However, within 72 hours of the towing the owner of the vehicle can pay the tow charge and just be given the vehicle with no further charges. In this case, the insurance would have covered the towing charge.
The California Highway Patrol posts its Mission Statement on its website. Nowhere in its Mission Statement can I find any authorization to permit a towing company to charge RANSOM before returning a stolen vehicle. Boo-hoo, the county government is broke, I hear repeatedly. Then why is not some of this penalty income stream for non-stolen vehicles returned to taxpayers instead of enriching the already rich towing companies????
Mrs. Pitman, since your truck was wrongfully taken, according to your accounts in recent AVAs, I'd like to talk to you personally about action to be taken. Please contact me thru the Editor of the AVA.
Sincerely,
Dorotheya M. Dorman
Redwood Valley
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WHAT ABOUT THE MITCHELL MURDERS?
Editor,
After reading about Les Crane’s murder from several years ago, it brought back the memory of the father and son murders. I am appalled that they have not found the people who murdered Buzzy and Noland Mitchell. I have been here for 57 years and it saddens me that our once-peaceful county has become a drug-infested sewage pool which continues to draw in more parasites.
Mary Clark
Ukiah
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WIKIWEEDIPEDIA
Editor,
It appears that Wolfgang Rougle has found a genuine error in our Queen Victoria Cannabis Card.
Our card states, “Queen Victoria's great-great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, ordered landowners to grow cannabis or face a fine in 1563,” followed by King Philip of Spain in 1564.
We were trying to show that historically hemp has been woven into the fabric of whole countries throughout the ages, with political leaders including queens and kings, acknowledging economic and medical benefits, showing hemp to be essential to their way of life, just as it is in the US today (quiet as it's kept).
Wolfgang points out (AVA 1/9/13) that Q Liz died childless in 1603, so could not have been the great-great grandmother of Queen Victoria. She doesn't challenge any of the hemp history facts, but is persuasive that a family link is impossible.
In fact Elizabeth bragged about being not only a queen, but also a virgin “married to her kingdom,” inspiring a fan base, which eventually resulted in the state of Virginia being named in her honor. Thank you, Wolfgang, for that tidbit.
We are also informed that Elizabeth was “fluent in at least five languages and played the lute,” showing her to be an accomplished person, not just a queen. (Remaining a virgin is an accomplishment in itself, given the nature of things.)
Much appreciation to Wolfgang for her intriguing research and willingness to correct our error with humor and scholarship. Our intention at Cannabis Cards is to be interactive with the public; criticisms are welcome. Perhaps Wolfgang would be willing to be one of the researchers for our coming cannabis ourstory book, “Wikiweedipedia,” combining art, biography and history for a more complete picture.
Pebbles Trippet
cannabiscards@pacific.net
Elk
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